A conveyor line is often laid in an assembly line of products or a delivery center of goods. A layout of a conveyor line partially including a curved passage part may be employed.
Conveyor devices including a curved passage part are disclosed, for example, in Patent Documents 1, 2. FIG. 14 is a plan view of a conveyor device 100 disclosed in Patent Document 1. The conventional conveyor device 100 includes two frames 101, 102 which are concentrically bent, and a plurality of conveying rollers 103 are disposed between the two frames 101, 102.
Each of the conveying rollers 103 has a conical outer shape. Any of the conveying rollers is a motor-incorporating roller which incorporates a motor therein and rotates with the incorporated motor. The other conveying rollers 103 are idling rollers. In the conveyor device 100, a belt 105 is wound around each adjacent conveying rollers 103, so that all the conveying rollers 103 rotate in an interlocked manner.
Thus, all the conveying rollers are rotated by applying power to the motor inside the motor-incorporating roller to rotate the motor-incorporating roller, which enables an object to be conveyed. The conveying trajectory of the object forms a circular arc, and the traveling direction is changed by 90°.
Patent Document 2 discloses a conveyor device capable of changing the traveling direction by approximately 180°.